nearly five years. analysts say this may be the most important of the three presidential debates, and they say it may be mitt romney's best chance to lose his underdog image. steve handelsman is in denver with the latest. >> reporter: jim and doreen, thanks, good afternoon. when this debate starts tonight here at the university of denver, moderator jim lehrer will ban booing and hissing and clapping, so we, america, can concentrate on what these candidates have to say. more than 60 million americans could watch tonight's debate. >> i've made up my mind but i'd still like to see both of the candidates sweat a little bit. >> reporter: president obama looked relaxed this week. mitt romney, too. but he knows he has to change perceptions tonight. more voters now see romney negatively than see him positively. and that loses elections. >> only two presidential candidates in the last 20 years have had a net negative image at

this point and one of them lost, george h.w. bush. >> reporter: romney got good news from three battlegrounds in florida. he's now behind by just one point. still way down in ohio. but in virginia, romney's down by just two. with a lot on the line in past debates, romney's done well. >> going up against mitt romney is not a fun thing. he's got the facts. he drills you, stays, tenacious. >> reporter: and sometimes aggressive. >> don't use a term like that. >> reporter: aides admit barack obama in debates can sound like a professorial know it all. >> i understand the broader point that senator clinton has been trying to make over the last several weeks. >> reporter: tonight's format is from 2008, two podiums, moderator jim lehrer, 90 minutes, no breaks. a back-and-forth on domestic issues with possible fireworks. >> i think you're going to see both of them be more aggressive than either of their campaigns

have predicted, because the stakes are pretty high. >> reporter: the contest could get even tighter after tonight's clash. but most here in denver agree, this race could be decided by this debate. at the university of denver, i'm steve handelsman, news4. now back to you. you can watch tonight's debate here on nbc 4, live coverage at 9:00. and you can find a watch party by going to our home page on nbc washington.com. a 15-year-old girl groped while walking down the street. the fifth reported incident of an assault in springfield in the past month. pat collins explains why the recent attacks have the people there on edge. pat? >> reporter: jim, now it appears there may be a fifth victim in this string of fondling attacks. police out in springfield investigating a series of fondling attacks on young women here. today a detective talking to yet

another victim. we call her rosa. she says she was attacked on september 19th as she was coming home with her daughter. she spoke through an interpreter. >> translator: we were walking down the sidewalk, when all of a sudden i felt somebody walking behind me. once i turned around, he started touching me. touching me around my breasts. and then i started screaming and my daughter started screaming and i turned around and he started running back. >> reporter: all of these attacks happened on residential streets where you're more likely to feel safe and let your guard down. monticello boulevard, this is where the first case was reported september 7th, 9:30 in the morning. a 26-year-old woman attacked down there. >> it's terrifying. i have a daughter, she's away at college thank goodness right now, but yeah, this has always been a safe area. so it's kind of a change for springfield.

>> reporter: metropolitan center drive, september 18th, a 16-year-old victimized here. >> it makes me nervous. >> reporter: the 5900 block of erving street. september 27th. this time the victim, a 17-year-old. >> sounds like we need more police just roaming around, checking things, you know, maybe doing more footwork than car work. >> reporter: hiberling, the victim here, 15 years old. >> it's sad when you can't even walk down the street anymore, without worrying about being abused. >> reporter: lucy caldwell is with the fairfax county police. >> none of the women have required medical attention, but that doesn't mean it's not upsetting and traumatizing to them. >> reporter: now, police are working the case. they believe this could be the work of one man. they hope to come up with a composite soon. live in fairfax, pat collins,

news4. we are following breaking news now involving the rebellion in syria. the government in turkey, which borders syria, has retaliated after syrian forces fired on civilians inside the turkish border. a turkish official said a bomb hit a house earlier today, a woman was killed along with a 6-year-old boy and three others. a policeman was injured. syria's information minister apologized to the turkish people for the attack. he's calling on all countries to respect the border. there is a controversial proposal from a task force devoted to keeping the power on after storms. a new report out today calls for allowing utility companies like pepco to charge more for needed improvements. the cost would be about $1 or $2 per month, per customer. governor martin o'malley created

the task force. if the public service commission should approve, companies would have to meet stricter reliability standards. opponents say this rewards utility companies for not paying for their own improvements. today was the last meeting of the d.c. council task force looking into lowering fines for people caught speeding by traffic cameras. now members will use the information to come up with legislation on restructuring the fines. traffic cam ticket charges have gone up as much as 500% in the last four years. many believe it's there to raise money rather than encourage safe driving. they will consider legislation to lower the fines this fall. play-off fever in our town as the nats prepare for postseason baseball next week. as tom sherwood reports now, mayor gray is promising the city will handle the traffic and the crowds if you're heading out to the games. >> reporter: heavy traffic at the ballpark. as thousands of fans were heading to see the championship

nats play the last regular season game against the phillies before the nats' postseason begins next week. poli were deployed as usual, but the crowd control was just a warm-up for the crowds expected for the play-offs in and around the stadium. >> we will have an appropriate number who will be visible, present at the stadium to make sure that it is secure, that the fans enjoy themselves, that we have a good event. >> reporter: public safety officials said several hundred officers would be on standby. but disputed some media reports that hundreds of officers will be diverted from neighborhoods. >> what we have done is to make arrangements to cover any eventuality during the play-offs. there will be no disruption to normal police activities in the neighborhood. >> reporter: mayor vincent gray acknowledged the police duties, even the president may attend the game. but said the city, like other big league cities, will be ready. >> i have every confidence that the chief will deploy officers

in the most responsible way. i would just ask that we focus on what i think is phenomenal. and that is for the first time in 79 years, the district of columbia has a team in postseason play in major league baseball. that is phenomenal. >> well, the mayor's excited, but he doesn't have any play-off tickets yet. now, the mayor's been invited by the ownership to shbe a guest. they'll check with the ethics office to see if they can do that. >> they'll find a way to -- >> i hope so. the mayor has to sit at a play-off game. >> we'll see what happens. >> stick around for the next story. >> i will. the fans were excited today. it wasn't just about the team's 5-1 victory over the phillies. teddy finally got his first-ever win in a mascot presidents race. teddy picked up his win with the help of a fake philly phanatic. visitors to the nbc washington

facebook page say they think it's long overdue teddy got his win. his official record now stands at 1-538. >> this is a pr mistake. some people liked it. but this is a pr -- what do you do the next time they play? first of all, they cheated. they had a fake philly guy. we have enough of the phillies fans being rude and obnoxious. we'll have another race, and where's the drama? four fatheads running around the field? it could be anybody. >> i think the whole thing is ridiculous anyhow. they're not good mascots. and this race is -- >> oh, it's fun. the race is fun. the presidents race is fun. >> they could do better than that. it's goofy. >> i hate to see teddy win -- not win fairly. i think if teddy was going to win, he needs to win like the nats did. not knocking over -- >> the cheating. >> you guys are talking about this like there's something

legitimate going on. this is like wrestling. >> no, no -- >> i'm talking to george michael over here. >> this is what michael would be doping. this is cheating. cheating. >> the whole thing is a setup. what are you talking about. >> kathy bates in the newsroom, she said, look, here's what should happen. major league baseball should review this. go up in the booth, review this. cancel it. and it never happened. write this on the books. >> thank you. >> thank you, tom. we're going to talk about something that really matters now. and that's the weather. it's been warmer. we need to cool you down just a little bit. veronica johnson, how are we looking out there right now? >> we're looki ining dry out th right now. i was amused for that whole segment there. yeah, we're dry out there right now. got rid of the fog. but now we still have some cloud cover throughout the area. despite that cloud cover, we still got up to 80 degrees today. we're now at 79 degrees.

i'm expecting more fog. i'll tell you how bad that fog is going to be for tomorrow morning, and what else we're going to have to dea l with tomorrow with that fog coming up. coming up, new concerns that the fbi investigation into the murder of an american ambassador is being delayed. tonight we'll get some answers. americans are being tricked into giving up their credit card numbers, and remote access to their computers. so-called dreamers who want to get an education and contribute to their communities are still not rushing to take advantage of president obama's immigration policy change. >> i feel powerless at some point, because i can't vote. and it's a challenge to get a baby to eat vegetables sometimes. but we found one couple ready to share the secret to their success.

breaking news right now in the city of fairfax. a police search team is looking for a teenager who's been missing since monday. they're looking for this young man, 17-year-old brian glen. he was last seen early monday morning on the grounds of wt woodson high school in fairfax.

right now bloodhounds and rescue teams arehecking out where the teenager's car has been found. police and the boy's family are quite concerned for his safety. secretary of state hillary rodham clinton is promising a full and transparent investigation into the deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya. the u.s. ambassador and three other americans were killed in that attack. secretary clinton said the government is committed to compiling an accurate account of what happened, and finding those responsible. >> and we will not rest until we answer those questions, and until we track down the terrorists who killed our people. active efforts are also under way to determine who was responsible and bring them to justice. >> this week, an independent five-member panel appointed by secretary clinton will begin looking at whether the consulate in fact had adequate security. violence erupted in western

india today over the anti-islam movie made in america. about 200 protesters battled police in the middle of their demonstration. some threw rocks, others set fire to a police station and police motorcycles. more protests are planned in calcutta tomorrow. the u.s. embassy is shutting down the american center for the rest of the week to keep americans from being hurt. the man accused of betraying the trust of pope benedict xvi could learn his fate this weekend. he was the pope's butler. he admits he stole from the pope, but he says he had a good reason. >> reporter: this was paolo in his coveted role. he was charged with stealing the pope's records and personal documents, like construction contracts. he's admitted taking the documents but testified he doesn't feel guilty of a crime,

only betraying the trust of a man he loves like a father. he told prosecutors, seeing evil and corruption everywhere in the chump, i was sure that a shock, even a media one, would have been healthy to bring the church back on the right track. >> he was a known and trusted person, he spoke to many people about many issues of concern that he said they came to him with. >> reporter: on the stand he described talking to the pope. i realized it's easy to manipulate somebody with such enormous decision-making power. he claims to have had no accomplices. there is one other vatican staffer accused of holding documents for gabrieli. but his role was considered minor. he could face four years in prison. but everybody you talk to here fully expects the pope to pardon him. and as if this was not enough going on around here. take a look at this video. yesterday an italian man jumped over a railing out onto the dome

of st. peter's. he is protesting austerity measures in the eurozone. back to you. the grand father of a child, a little girl, killed in that colorado theater shooting is begging a thief to return pictures of that child. 6-year-old veronica was one of 12 people shot and killed while watching the batman movie back in july. this week somebody broke into her grandfather's house in denver and stole jewelry and cash and they took four cameras. one of those cameras had more than 40 pictures of his granddaughter. he had downloaded only one of those pictures. >> i don't know if the people were aware, those were the last photos i have of veronica before the shooting. i'm not sure what the knufuture holds, but i keep hoping things will get better. >> veronica was the youngest person killed in that movie theater. the grandfather was planning on using the pictures in an upcoming memorial service.

thousands of americans have been duped into giving up their credit card information and remote access to their computers. the ftc said it starts with a telemarketer's phone call or ad on google. they say a virus can be fixed as long as they make a credit card payment. it's part of an international crackdown with victims in at least five other countries. veronica's here with a look at our weather. after the fog burned off, it turned out to be kind of nice. >> it turned out to be kind of nice, and certainly warm. >> yes. muggy even. >> warm, muggy, humid, all of that. the fog, a lot of folks commenting on it the early part of the day saying, wow, it was thick out there. it sure developed early. we're talking about some more fog and something else that we're going to have to deal with for tomorrow morning's rush. right now, we've got mostly cloudy sky still. but despite that fact, mild

today. the high temperature of 82 degrees. almost ten degrees above average. last year on this date, our high temperature was 53 degrees. so are you ready for a little cool air? a little cold air? it certainly is coming. reagan national right now at 79 degrees. what's going to be giving us the fog once again? the high humidity, and once again a very light wind. the wind right now calm. the dew point temperature at 66 degrees with humidity up to 64% right now. temperatures throughout the region, look at that. we're at 79 degrees still in frederick, maryland. 79 leesburg. culpepper at 79. around waldorf, around fredericksburg, stafford, 82 degrees right now. so it is going to be a warm evening for us. we had a few sprinkles come through the area today. it was like sprinkles and sunshine all kind of mixed together at times. the sprinkles have left. off to our west we're seeing a

another little area of rain around blue grass south of elkins. i'm expecting some showers, but again, for tomorrow morning, i think. the morning rush between about 7:00 a.m. and noontime. as the rest of this system comes through, you can see the area of low pressure to our west. we'll see highs in the 60s coming our way the second half of the weekend. cloud cover, 75 temperature by 11:00 p.m. we won't fall much more again by tomorrow morning, upper 60s to low 70s. it's drizzle and fog early on, with a chance of showers, scattered showers, nothing too heavy i think between 7:00 a.m. and about noontime tomorrow. here we go. here's your future weather. i'll stop it at 7:00 a.m. there's the line of showers scattered and coming on through. by noontime, pax river area, may see a light shower area isolated for the afternoon. but for the most part i think we'll get sunshine in here again.

and i think it will be warm, back up to around 80 degrees. and then as we get into friday, high pressure, look at all that clear sky. sunshine for us for the end of the week. it's going to be beautiful. and then another weather system comes in for the weekend. this one originating from points north. so it's canadian air instead of the warm air from the gulf of mexico that's going to be coming in. we will be getting some rain with that system the second half of the weekend as well. as far as your evening goes, 70 to 77 degrees. humid, mild. maybe a few sprinkles coming back in. drizzle on tap for tomorrow morning. 66 to 72 degrees. there's a look at your forecast for tomorrow. you'll need the umbrella early in the day. and then the sunglasses as we get a few breaks of sunshine for the second half of the day. what you will need for the second half of your weekend is a nice warm jacket. >> uh-oh. >> 64 degrees for a high temperature on sunday. on top of that, it's going to b wet. a wet cool day. who loves that.

that's an inside day right there. >> save all the indoor chores for sunday. >> right. >> thanks, veronica. coming up tonight, for a woman from virginia, a close encounter of a most enchanting kind. a maryland father is in the hospital after being attacked in a quiet neighborhood. and it may have been hours before his own children found him. coming up in sports, robert griffin iii and the redskins preparing for their toughest test of the season. and here at nationals park, home field advantage throughout. the nationals seal

the sole survivor of a fiery car crash on chevy chase circle last spring is now on trial. >> rico richardson was in the stolen car when it crashed into a tree and burst into flames

last march. jackie bensen is in rockville now wherehe trial is under way. jackie? >> reporter: good evening, jim. many car theft cases never make it to a jury trial. this one is different. >> we don't believe based on what the testimony has shown thus far that the state has proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt with respect to the charges against our client. >> reporter: exhibit "a" in the state of maryland versus rico richardson, the dash cam video from one of the police cruisers that responded to chevy circle in mah, rrcesponding to a pursuit that exceeded speeds of 90 miles an hour. officers came upon a stolen toyota echo crumpled next to a tree. >> the vehicle is on fire. >> reporter: in court, prosecutors noticed officers risked their own safety to pull richardson from the burning michael robinsond on the scene was ask if heaw ri richardson in the car. he began the per

suit testifd, did your police car hit. that matter will be an issue the richardson family is bringing against the county. richardson was charged after the crash after preparations for the civil suit began. >> we do believe it was retaliatory to bring charges against our client. because at that point, the county and the department was on notice, as you had indicated, that a lawsuit was filed. i made clear in my opening statement, this was the only young gentleman in that vehicle that was charged. >> reporter: an officer did testify that his police cruiser struck another cruiser during that pursuit. reporting live in rockville, jackie bensen, news4. police in springfield are investigating a series of groping attacks over the last

month. a 15-year-old girl said s was grabbed walking along hibling avenue. they're looking to see if it was linked to three similar attacks last month. the board of supervisors in loudoun county investigating the possibility that supervisor eugene delguardo misused his staff. one of his former staffers filed a complaint earlier this year she spent most of her time arranging meetings with potential political donors. he denied any wrongdoing and said he had been trying to raise money for a youth football league. supporters say dreams are on the line. maryland voters will go to the polls next month. they'll be weighing in on an emotional charged issue for immigrants. today richard jordan spoke to some students in hyattsville who say they feel powerless because they cannot participate in decisions that could change their lives. >> reporter: the undocumented hispanic community is anxiously anticipating the november elections.

but those with the most to lose do not get to vote. 17-year-old veronica just graduated from high school in june. the opportunity to go to college is out of reach, because the teen is undocumented and the cost of higher learning is too high. maryland's question 4 asks voters to approve a law allowing undocumented immigrants to pay instate or incounty tuition at maryland colleges. passage would open doors for thousands of imgrants. >> i had cancer back in 2009. >> reporter: the stakes are hi for ricardo. he dreams of becoming an oncologist, but says he will never made it to medical school without the referendum. >> i'm a cancer survivor. my life was saved in johns hopkins by a doctor who is an immigrant. i just want to keep saving lives the same way my life was saved once. and i think it's really important to allow me, and allow kids to fulfill our dreams. >> reporter: but the maryland

referendum is not the only critical question. >> let's be clear, this is not amnesty. this is not immunity. >> reporter: president obama's executive decision allows illegal immigrants who qualify to stay in the u.s. for two years without fear. mitt romney says he will uphold the same policy if elected. but it costs $465 to apply for the deferred action program. many immigrants who meet the requirement are afraid to take action until after the vote in november. >> it's a change of policy that was made by president obama. and many of those don't know what's going to happen after the elections. >> hopefully deferred action does not stop. but if it does, i don't know what i would do. i think i would just have to look for a job, and i won't be able to continue a career because it's way too expensive. >> reporter: richard jordan, news4. the opponents of what will be on the ballot, question 4, say that it would cost taxpayers

too much to subsidize higher education for undocumented immigrants. supporters will hold a rally and a march on saturday. that march starts in langley park and goes to the university of maryland. a toddler was left behind this week with no shoes at a northwest d.c. playground. he went there with his day care glass monday afternoon. a nanny found him there after the rest of the class had left. the executive director of friendship children's center on western avenue said parents were notified about the incident, and the teacher who was supposed to have been watching the toddler has been disciplined. the little boy is okay and is back at the children's center today. the school said it's taking action. >> we were very worried, very upset. and everybody jumped into action to make sure the child was safe, to respond to the needs of the parents. the other parents here, too. we right away jumped into our investigation with what happened, and are working on figuring out how to make sure it

doesn't happen again. >> because the boy is okay and the father had arrived, no police report was filed. a 72-year-old man is in critical condition tonight. somebody brutally beat him near his home in silver springs. his sons found him unconscious about 3:30 yesterday morning. he was lying in a parking lot on garland avenue near piney branch road. the sons say they last saw their father five hours earlier when he left to walk to the store. tonight police handed out fliers in that area. they're hoping somebody may have seen something that might help find who is responsible. guzman's daughter made a plea tonight to the public. >> there is no human being that deserves to be treated like that. my father is a 72-year-old man, who walks every single morning and evening to go to work. we work every single day to look

after our family. that's why i'm asking the community to please, if anybody knows anything, come forward. >> police say guzman cannot talk now, because of his injuries. operators are standing by in prince george's county, ready to help residents with problems like potholes and trash pickup. today was the official ribbon cutting ceremony for the new county click 311 call center. it's open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. monday through friday. dial 311 and operators will answer nonemergency requests. the new center is in upper marlboro. we're not just talking about another fish story, we're talking about a woman in prince william county, virginia, got up close and personal with the largest fish in the ocean. she was on a recent diving trip. darcy spencer reports that the encounter with a whale shark was all caught on video. >> that's me breathing because i'm swimming so hard. >> reporter: the diver you see in this incredible video is

cheryl mcwilliams. she had an unexpected close encounter with a whale shark off the florida coast last month. what was your initial thought when you saw it? >> oh, my goodness. look, it's a whale shark. how amazing is this, how lucky. >> reporter: mcwilliams is a fairfax county firefighter and dive instructor. she was on a dive in the gulf of mexico 30 miles off the coast. she was exploring the mohawk shipwreck on an artificial reef when the female whale shark made a visit. >> it's 25 feet long. it's just enormous. you're awe-struck. >> reporter: mcwilliams said she was not scared. she has nearly 20 years of diving experience. she recognized the polka dotted creature as being a whale shark, the largest fish in the world. >> i actually touched her tail as she was swimming past me one time. they're pretty interesting. they feel kind of like sandpaper almost. >> reporter: a newspaper reporter took this picture as the whale shark swam toward her.

she grabbed some of her own photographs and video as well. this was the second sighting of a whale shark at the reef since july. still, it's considered rare to see one in these waters. >> it would be interesting to know what they're thinking, because they actually look at you like, what are you doing? >> reporter: mcwilliams said sharks typically get a bad rap and many are endangered. she hopes this experience and the video watched all over the world will help its image and its home. >> it's special anytime you can end a dive like that and have nature actually want to interact with us. >> reporter: darcy spencer, news4. >> whew. coming up, a rare and deadly outbreak of meningitis. it's spread now to virginia and maryland. one guy is really glad for the replacement refs. veronica, what about the weather? >> mostly cloudy sky out there right now. tomorrow morning, as we check on the weather around chantilly, virginia, 70s for the overnight period. then it's fog and rain.

then it's fog and rain. i'll tell you how much raine.

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a meningitis outbreak. tennessee, florida and north carolina have reported outbreaks of the virus. four people altogether have died from the virus and 26 more of confirmed to be infected. the outbreak is linked to a steroid injected into patients' spines to treat back pain. the steroid was administered at two facilities in southwest virginia. several hundred people may have received those injections. a man in ontario, pit the seahawks to upset the packers a couple weeks ago. he placed a $5 bet in a canadian lottery game that involves the nfl picks. you have to pick all the games. his 12-year-old daughter told him to go with seattle, so he did. he thought, ah, there goes my money. then the ref ruled it a touchdown. not an interception. the worst call in the history of

the universe. the guy won $725,000 on that $5 bet. and that lousy call. somebody made out on that. >> that's a big win. >> huge. they lost over, what, $200 million, lost on that one game. on that stinking call. anyway, dan hellie is at nats park. we've got something really good to talk about down there. >> yeah, this is fun. we're getting ready to go rg3, we'll talk football as well. spreading the praise around. and here at nationals park, we're obviously talking about the big win. but there's another big win, teddy, like you have never seen him before. finally, does he get it

clouds in the morning and now here are clouds in the evening. mostly cloudy, mild, but it is humid outside. so not exactly a comfortable

evening for us. from the low 70s north to the upper 70s, even hanging on at 81 degrees right now. manassas and around warrenton. so, your future weather, yeah, more cloud cover for the overnight period. and even some fog coming back into the area. expect the fog to develop after midnight this time. not quite so early. showers coming through about 7:00 and noontime tomorrow. we'll get a little sunshine. temperaturewise, we'll rise from the low and upper 60s across the area to about 80 to 81 degrees. tomorrow will feel temperaturewise like today. but it will be a little breezy during the afternoon as the front moves through. 82 on friday. warm conditions. and not humid at all. really nice day. from 74 to 64 on sunday. it's wet, cool on sunday, and

cool for the first part of next week. dan is down at the ballpark. we win a division championship. >> history making day out here at nats park. he locked up home field advantage, lock up the best record in baseball. and fans ecstatic, not just because of that, but because of one teddy roosevelt finally won the president's race. first, let's take a look at how things went down in the game. perhaps teddy's win inspired the team. ryan zimmerman the first player at the bait since teddy won his race. getting things done. coincidence? you decide. his 25th home run of the year ties the game at 1. after a michael morris double, it's tyler moore facing cliff lee. and moore taking one to left. that just stays fair.

three straight hits after teddy gets his win. bottom eighth, now 3-1. fans with the giant michael morris' head. two-run shot puts the nationals up 5-1. that's your final. the nationals finish with a record of 98-64. they will be the top seed in the national league. the postseason set to begin on sunday in either st. louis or atlanta. the braves and cardinals will be playing in the playing game. davies on how he fields heading into the play-offs and after today's win. >> no doubt about it. you want to finish feeling good. and that was definitely a feel-good finish. we all wanted him to get there. he certainly pitched better, to have 15 wins. a great outing. good win. don't have to make a five-hour

plane trip. that's great. >> that's davy johnson. the story that swept the nation. since 2006, anybody who has ever watched or been to a nationals game has seen what they do in the middle of the fourth inning. the presidents race, with the presidents with oversized heads running a race. for some reason teddy has never won. 500-plus races, one teddy roosevelt has not won the presidents race until tonight. the drought has finally come to an end. yes, it was time. the nationals decided, teddy decided, hey, maybe it was the underarmor cleats. it was good. the special shoes. actually going to be going into the hall of fame, i believe. to t race, teddy starts out behind the other three, then he gets some help. that's not the philly phanatic. a wide-open path for our boy teddy. 539th race, for the first time since the contest started in

2006, we can finally say teddy is your presidents race winner. hugs, tears, and players were, well, they were ready for teddy's drought to end. >> i'm so glad teddy won so we can stop talking about teddy. people get more excited for mascot race than a game. but yes, i'm excited teddy won. i'm ecstatic. >> on a serious note, teddy has now won for the first time ine ons. how important is that to you? >> it's not at all to me. i hope this isn't live. i know to the fans who really get into that, it was obvious by the ovation, and the place went crazy. you would have thought somebody just hit a walkoff. teddy's a big star tonight. >> guys, i have to ask you this back in the studio, teddy has been a story that has been on the front page of the "wall street journal," "sports illustrated," and now that he's

won, he's a nonstory. who cares? >> mefs a nonstory before we even started this whole thing. i'm totally with zimmerman, my man. stop asking about teddy now. >> did you sense the disgust from the players? we won 98 games, can we move on? >> it's been a lot of fun. maybe they ought to come up with something completely different now. >> i hope the marketing department is watching. that was certainly that through the winning drought has been something the fans have been able to cheer for. meanwhile, for the first time since 1997, the orioles are headed to the play-offs. the only question left is who they will play. they are still one game behind the yankees in the american league east. with one game to go. last night the guys taking on the rays. and you know what, they actually played just well enough to win. chris davis, a big reason for the success. a home run in six straight

games. top of the fourth, deep to center field. rough night for shields. a great night because he had 15 strikeouts. the os win it 1-0. the 33rd home run of the year for davis. the os remain one game back. so here's the deal. if the os win and the yankees lose, that means there will be a one-game play-off in baltimore tomorrow night to decide the a.l. east title. if both teams win, the orioles host either the rangers or a's on friday. if the os lose, then they will be on the road for the wild card play-off game. red skips as we know getting ready for a huge game against the atlanta falcons. this is the rg3 effect. the falcons 4-0, redskins only three-point underdogs. a surprise there, primarily because of pat ryan, the number one rated quarterback in the

nfl. rg3, the fourth rated quarterback in the nfl. he says, you know what, we are depending on everybody, not just me. >> coach talked to us today. the biggest thing is, we're winning as a team. you know, its's not that any individual people are just going out and doing things on their own. everybody's contributing. alfred is running the ball extremely well. our receivers are blocking downfield. to hit that many targets and show that we can win as a team, and then we do have guys like the monster games as well. the future is looking bright for us. but we also know we've got to take it one day at atime. and we're doing that. >> guys, i've been covering the redskins for seven years now and this is going to be the first home game i haven't been to. and i think i'll have a pretty good reason why, because i'll be covering the nationals in the play-offs. sports fans in d.c., a lot of choices of things to watch on sunday, which i think could be pretty cool. >> we could be playing the falcons and braves on the same day? >> yeah, crazy, huh?

and it could b at the same time. word is, this is going to be an afternoon game, so you'll be flipping the channels a little bit. >> a challenge for the sports department covering this good news. >> we do our best. >> thank you, dan. coming up, it could be the secret to getting your kids to

i think we mentioned the nats are in the play-offs. now we're getting great pictures of the greatest nats fans across the d.c. area. send us photos of your kids, your pets, yourself, decked out in nationals colors and we may use them on air on nbcwashington.com. you can also send your photos to natspix@nbcwashington.com. more rain possible? >> more rain possible. more fog possible. but the fog is not going to be as in your face as it was last ening. so we're going to see the fog slowly develop this time. last night it was early on, like around this time, 7:00, 8:00, already developing out there. we have clouds now.

it's humid and it's warm out there right now. temperature overnight 65 to 70 degrees. tomorrow, some showers between about 7:00 a.m. and noontime. we'll start with drizzle and fog that will burn off about 9:00 a.m. or so. by the weekend we'll cool down from 74 to 64. wet, too, on sunday. >> okay. thanks, veronica. a father in london said the song gangnam style will make his son benjamin eat his vegetables. check this out. >> oh, my. >> about benjamin is 10 months . the father said it sometimes takes an hour to get him to eat his lunch. they say the only thing that

works is the gangnam style music video from psi. >> oh, no. >> but there's something weird about this. i'm not sure. >> that little guy is one step away from video game eyes.